leaves 40th anniversary issue.p65

The Leaves
of Twin Oaks
Twin Oaks has touched so many people in so many ways over the years. It is the manifestation of the creative
energy, hard work, and utopian vision of thousands of members, visitors, guests and friends. In order to commemorate our 40th
anniversary as a community, we’ve solicited articles from current as well as ex-members, and dug into our archives for excerpts from
early issues of the Leaves, old O & I papers and old photos. We hope that this issue captures a small slice of this rich history.
What is Success?
by Bob Herbert aka Koala (‘76 - ‘82)
News of the Oaks
by Mala
Comings and Goings: The big news on the
membership front is that, for the last few months,
we’ve had a waiting list for the first time in ten
years. We also hit our highest population ever 96 adult members - when we temporarily increased “pop cap” this spring to reduce the
waiting list. Since that peak, we’ve held steady in
the mid-nineties.
Since our last issue, we’ve welcomed new
members Goat, Eve, Bridget, Carmen, Ethan,
In this issue...
The Next Generation
page 2
Then and Now
page 3
A Twin Oaks Break-up
page 3
Hammocks Manager
page 4
Pier 1 Post Script
page 4
Still Socialist
page 6
Memories
page 6
Turmoil and Transition
page6
Jake’s Saturn Returns
page 7
One for the Birds
page 7
Feline Eulogy
page 7
editing and layout by karmakas and skyblue*
Ake, Drea, Airy, Brian, Codi, Zane, and Caroline.
Ezra and Kassia returned from their leaves, and
Alyssa and Ivy pleasantly surprised us by trying
out the outside world and deciding they liked
Twin Oaks better. (Word on the path has it that
Lotus Vortex might be the next recent ex-member to come home!) Short-term members Lorne
and Al arrived and departed over the last few
months, but Al plans to return in the fall after
spending the summer at the Omega Institute.
Speaking of the Omega Institute, Owen’s
spending the summer there, likely returning within
the year. Madge and Meredith are on leave as well.
Madge is traveling the world, Meredith has returned to the monastery in California. Scout’s
returned to Vermont to complete her degree in
anthropology, Juniper’s returned to California to
study Chinese medicine, and Erin’s moved to
Richmond to get her master’s in social work.
Three of our 50-something members have
taken off to shack up with their partners: Darwin
“News” continued on page 2...
Many people in the outside world are coming to the realization that our free enterprise
model is actually sowing ecological destruction
and destabilizing huge portions of the world as
we pursue our ever growing needs for energy, raw
materials & new markets. Twin Oaks is a model
for a sustainable village. It has both embraced and
integrated into the larger world economy. The
local effect and diversity it has helped sow has also
been profound with literally hundreds of ex members putting down roots in the area between
Charlottesville and Richmond.
I do not hold up Twin Oaks’ model of
complete income sharing, vows of poverty and
intentional communal sharing of all resources as the
only answer. However, I do believe that within the
context of a wider and more diverse community,
Twin Oaks has succeeded admirably.
Are we a failure in that we have not spawned
a hundred thousand new Twin Oaks? Is the slow
growth of the Intentional Community movement
a sign of failure? I think
not. We have
helped sow
many, many
diverse communities, often with very
different
ideological
views then
those held by
most Oakies.
Koala in the early 80’s
This embracing of differences is refreshing in a
world currently bent on isolation, polarization
and conflict.
I can only speak for myself. I joined Twin
Oaks at 19. I was a founding member of Tupelo.
Mostly I just jumped at the chance to move in
quickly even if it meant living in an abandoned
farmhouse next door.
I didn’t know how long I would live at Twin
Oaks, but I had prepared for joining the way some
“Success” continued on page 2...
A Long Walk Off a Short Pier I
by Dream (‘03-’05)
This article first appeared in the Leaves issue
101, Winter 2004 --ed.
In an established community with over ninety
members, sweeping changes are few and far between. While a member or two might be swept
off their feet in any given year, Twin Oaks as a
whole tends to maintain more of an equilibrium.
But in the summer of 2004, Pier 1 proved to be
a broom big enough to affect the entire farm.
In that summer, after over thirty years of
business, Pier 1 told us they had decided to stop
carrying our hammocks. Our buyer, Fred
Poggemeyer, said their top priority in “a difficult
economic climate” was to recapture customers
and increase traffic by changing their image and
their product line. He insisted that he enjoyed
dealing with us and told us their decision was not
meant to reflect on the quality of our products. He
even left a small door open, saying they would
consider us in the future, if they decided to carry
hammocks again.
Some members were relieved to get out of a
sometimes difficult relationship, while others
advocated setting out on a course to try to win
Pier 1 back.
East Wind decided to greatly reduce their
hammocks business, from making thousands of
hammocks to only hundreds a year. Faced with
a massive reduction in our hammocks needs, we
were forced to fire all of the outside entities,
including Acorn, who had been making hammocks for us.
Through the years, various managers had
enacted strategies to prepare the business to survive such a blow. We had grown both our
wholesale and retail businesses with the hope of
being able to support the needs of the community
“Pier I” continued on page 4...
...”News” continued from page 1
with Lynn at Baker Branch, Rollie with Amelia at
Shannon Farm, and Jake with George in Savannah. In typical Kawatski fashion, Jake left with
such an enormous vacation balance that he’s still
technically a member. Thomas suggested that we
try to compensate for the particularly large vacuum
Jake left by taking turns being “Jake for a Day.”
Each day’s designated Jake would engage in
twelve hours of frenzied multitasking activity accompanied by creative grumbling and
punctuated by random acts of kindness.
The departure of
the above members may
be part of a phenomenon Pam has termed
“boomer flight.” Six other
members in their fifties
have announced plans to
leave this year. Casey recently posted a graph of our
average age; it went steadily up
until the beginning of 2000,
when it peaked at 44; as of a few
months ago (before any of the
above-mentioned departures) it
was slightly below 41. By the end of this year it
will probably be significantly lower. The good
news is that the fears of several years ago of Twin
Oaks becoming “an aging community” seem to
not be manifesting; the bad news is that it will be
very difficult to replace the skills and commitment of our long-term departing members.
Finances: In tandem with hitting our highest membership ever, we achieved another benchmark when our long-term savings fund crossed
the million-dollar mark for the first time ever.
Kudos to our Econ Team for guiding us through
austerity without having to break into our nest
egg.We’re continuing to do a good job of recovering from the loss of Pier 1, and creating a betterbalanced income scene. “Rope products” (hammocks, chairs, etc) remains our biggest business,
but tofu and outside work continue to grow, and
indexing is still going strong. We’ve decided to
significantly upgrade the tofu hut again and expand the business, but have put the upgrades on
hold until we find a satisfactory method of dealing with our tofu wastewater. Our newest business, spearheaded by River, is growing seeds for
Acorn’s heirloom seed business. This project is
exciting in how well it fits in with our values of
inter-community cooperation, sustainability, and
self-sufficiency.
Due to the solid performances of our businesses, we ended 2006 with a substantial surplus,
and just played our first OTRA game in several
years. We funded 25 labor OTRAs (One-Time
Resource Allocations) and 51 money OTRAs.
Like the new seed business, the OTRA results
manifest our increasing focus on sustainability.
Among the funded projects are plans to reduce
run-off from our pasture into the South Anna
river; to purchase more eco-friendly dish soap; to
decrease dryer use for personal laundry; and to
build a
solar oven, a rainwater catchment system, a solar shower,
and another composting toilet.
Agriculture
Agriculture: Our
first big controversy of
2007 focused on the proposed removal of eight
pine trees next to MT
which were shading the
garden. We did eventually decide to cut
them, which resulted
in an unexpected silver lining: Casey
was able to revive
his 16-mm film
series at a much
more convenient location then Emerald City! The north wall of MT has
made a fine screen for outdoor showings of
classics like “Really Rosie” and “Zlata the Goat.”
We’ve had a rash of “immaculately conceived” calves, including one that we’ve
named Jesus. Apparently the fencing
between our pastures and those of Tommy
Andersen’s bulls needs some work . . .
The poultry crew decided to move the
chickens from their distant home across
the road to a little yard near Aurora.
However, it was decided that moving the
geese to such a central location would be
disruptive, so the crew trained the geese
to get water for themselves from the river,
and left them in Sadler field. Now they’re
so free-range that we may or may not see
them again.
Nuts and Bolts: Rollie’s departure
leaves us especially bereft in the building
maintenance department, but Kevin,
Ethan and Carmen have stepped into the
breach. They’ve been doing a lot of work
up at Tupelo, included a big project of
improving Tupelo’s drainage so that the
lawns and gardens don’t become muddy
moats after each rain.
We’re also a bit anxious about the
impending departure of Inge, who’s done
an amazingly thorough and conscientious job of maintaining our fleet of
vehicles for years. Fortunately, her exit
coincides with the arrival of Zane, the
first new member in ages to show up with
a solid background in auto maintenance. Sabine
and Keenan will also be helping keep the auto area
running. We’ve resurrected the tradition of
giving our cars members’ given names (which had
languished since Margaret Fitzgerald) by naming
our newest car Krista Laffoon (the given name of
Thea Tupelo). We christened our other new car,
a Toyota Matrix, Nebuchadnezzer (after the
ship in The Matrix and after Aubee’s nickname
for Zadek).
Our new T-1 internet connection means
that Twin Oaks, like the rest of the world, is now
hooked up to YouTube. Twin Oaks video clips
on YouTube include Apple and Gwen singing
“Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid and visitors playing in the Playground of
Death.
Pets and Kids: A few years ago, a series of
weird anomalous events and circumstances caused
us to find ourselves with seven community dogs
instead of our set limit of four. With the amount
of hullabaloo that normally accompanies a “dog
issue,” we decided to allow all seven to stay. With
the departures of Nibbles and Kasta with their
owners, we’re almost back down to our theoretical limit now.
Three couples have announced their hopes
of having kids in the next year or so, and we’re very
excited about the impending baby boom. Gwen
and Jonah have both been taking ballet classes in
Louisa; Arlo’s become the latest home-schooled
kid to enter the world of school; he’s just completed a semester at the Living Education Center
in Charlottesville. Congratulations to Asana and
Imani, whose step team took first place at a big
competition in Richmond; and to Topher, who’s
graduating from Woodbury Academy and starting at UVA in the fall.
Community Connections and Outreach:
We’ve been enjoying more cultural exchange than
usual lately with both Acorn and Ganas. Acorners
have been coming over to work in our garden and
to participate in regular Ultimate Frisbee games.
There’s been lots of visiting back and forth
between Twin Oaks and Ganas, and Kevin has
become the first TO/ Ganas dual member.
Twin Oakers were once again extremely
well-represented at the National Conference on
Organized Resistance in DC. The crew of 25 or
so Oakers tabled, networked, and gave wellattended workshops on everything from
polyamory to hula-hooping.
“Twin Oaks at 40” is the cover story of this
week’s Cville Weekly. The reporter, an Oberliner
from Harkness, grokked us well, and the story is
reasonably accurate and positive, with nice accompanying photos.
Culture: Although we’re doing well in terms
of membership and finances, we’ve had a relatively high level of community conflict this
spring. Some of the conflicts have focused
...”Success” continued from page 1
people prepare for college. This included telling
my parents at age 15 that I planned on joining
Twin Oaks when I graduated from high school.
I had lived in an alternative community
school in Northern California for two years and
felt I would do very well in the Twin Oaks
environment. And I did. To say that I was a “ high
risk youth “ was a vast understatement. By the
time I joined Twin Oaks I had been arrested twice
for drugs on international borders, wrecked three
cars, been kicked out of two schools and attempted to burn one down. I craved stability and
found it at Twin Oaks. I pursued interests as
diverse as gardening, dairy management, food
management, construction and Dj’ing parties for
our dances ( I still say “our “ even though I moved
out 25 years ago ). But what really stuck with me
was learning that I had a talent and love for business,
and I became involved in the hammocks business.
I also had a strong activist interest in alternative energy. I participated in our anti nuclear
actions and later became very involved in solar
and energy conservation; this is what I have a
career in to this day. As I write this paper I am
sitting in a business center in a hotel in Greensboro, NC where I will be meeting with associates
from the North Carolina Sustainable Energy
Association, Environmental Defense & Duke
Energy to discuss an Energy Efficiency program
being launched by the utility. It is funny and
ironic that I now work through and in partnership with utilities that I used to protest against.
What have I accomplished?
In the past 21 years my business, whose
motto is “Creating Power through Energy Efficiency”, has sold over $30 million worth of
energy efficient lighting. That’s enough to power
over 30,000 homes. And I owe it all to the
lessons I learned at TO. Oh, and I still protest at
anti nuclear events for those same utilities even as
I work to drive them towards greater energy
efficiency.
Twin Oaks was and is a success for me and
I am a proud “Alumni.” Now the question is,
what is the name of my fraternity? How
about Co Oaka Ti ?
“News” continued on page 6 ...
The Next Generation
Moves In
by Sky
When I moved to Twin Oaks in 1999, I was equipped to deal with the debilitating
one of five members in their twenties. In my conditions that often accompany admembership interview I was asked, “what’s your vanced age.
biggest concern about moving to Twin Oaks?” My
In response, the community started
answer was, “I’ll have no peer group.” My inter- an Aging and Fire Fund, built Nashoba (a resiviewers told me that if I moved here, more young dence designed for members with limited-mobilpeople would follow. It seems they were right; ity), and produced the Aging in Utopia report.
twenty-somethings have been our biggest age group Then, just months before my visitor period in
for about three years running.
’99, the community instituted an age-cap of 54
It was in the early nineties that the commu- years for new members. Around that time Renity recognized that the population was aging. “Generation” continued on page 8...
The average age
had increased every year from the
founding of the
community.
Folks realized that
that this might
pose some problems, particularly
in our labor scene
and the repercussions for our income-generating
abilities. Additionally, the community recognized it
wasn’t
fully
The “next generation” rocks the ‘06 Twin Oaks Rave
2001
‘85/’86
mid-80’s
2003
TWIN OAKS:
THEN AND NOW
THEN
mid-80’s
2003
Metas
Pier 1
The Screamies
Belize/Trapeze
Macrobiotic
Love-Ins
Reaganomics
VE Outside Louisa County
Behaviorism
Riverfield
Sweat Lodge
The Flying Tomatoes
Herbert Rhaburn (the van)
OPP
Sabbaticals
Assigned Labor
McCune
NOW
Pirates
Sunergia
Radical Honesty
The Zegg Forum
Vegan Gluten-Free
Raves
Dubya
VE Inside Louisa County
Mis-behaviorism
Pond
Sauna
The Vulgar Bulgars
Krista Laffoon (the 4-door)
VE
PALs
Done Labor
McCune
Halloween
mid-90’s
Halloween ‘05
A Day in the Life of a Twin Oaks Breakup
by Matt Gallup (‘01 - ‘04)
I thought I’d share a little of my life at Twin
Oaks in honor of the 40th anniversary. I came to
T.O. with my girlfriend at the time. We soon
broke up and thus ensued the most painful nine
months of my life. In retrospect, it was the most
intense period of spiritual development I’d had
up until that point. What follows is a brief
description of my day. For the record, everything
turned out fine.
8am; Wake up in my room at Tupelo. Hear
birds singing. Smell the forest. Notice diffuse
and lovely light of the sun warming my young
body.
8:05am; Remember that I am alone in bed.
Feel uncomfortable burn in heart region. Fully
remember painful breakup in strange new place.
Flash of about a dozen painful memories and
what I SHOULD have done to change things.
Heart burning now very uncomfortable.
8:15am; Go back to sleep.
9:00am; Drag pathetic ass out of bed. Avoid
fellow Tupeloids, half of which are having emotional breakdowns of their own. Ask God again
why I came all the way from Colorado to live in
hell. Remember hammock-weaving date with
Brian.
9:30am; Collapse in martyred agony on
logging road between Tupelo and ZK, “As long
as she’s happy, sniff, I’ll be okay.” Back path
affords only safety of not seeing HER.
9:35am; See HER at ZK, Dam! Put on
happy face. Despite break up we still are very
warm with each other. Burning in heart on
medium high now. Choke down delicious breakfast of fresh bread, homemade butter, organic
apples, and yes, organic oats. Community in salad
days. Pier One still ordering hammocks. Organic
grains for all.
10am; Meet Brian in courtyard for weaving
date. Brian greets me with a warm
“Duuuuuuuude!” He is as old as my father,
divorced and could be an angel in disguise. Brian
hands down sage advice, humor, and heart-felt
sympathy. After an hour of weaving we hug, part
times, perilous. I focus my mind on River, the
and I feel a bit better. Suddenly remember master of The State. No one runs this thing like
weaving date with Rita.
River. He is the glue that holds this place
11:10am; Meet Rita on other side of court- together, I’m sure of it. Suddenly remember I
yard where she’s been for the whole time, wonder- have a Mediation scheduled with Hawina at five.
ing if I’d remember. In retrospect, my forgetful- My heart sinks to the sound of the bobbins
ness only increases over the years at T.O. Cause? spinning madly. I see my life twisting like the
I’m not sure. Will have to ask Pele. She notices polypro fibers that fly through the machine I
things.
operate. The question is; will I become strong
11:45am; Am sobbing on hammock with and supportive like the rope that I am creating?
Rita. She is as old as my
Or will I fray and snap.
mother and is definitely an
Clogging the machine.
angel in disguise. Again,
Possibly breaking a
she has led me to the place
spindle arm of the
in my mind that is telling
State. Calling down
me bad things about the
the wrath of Jack,
breakup and helped me to
Phillip, and Alder, the
see that they are not true.
Elder Gods of this comHow did she do that? We
mune who will have to
hug. I’m feeling a lot better.
fix whatever mess I
I go to pond to skinny dip
make of my work and
before lunch. It’s like 100
my life. No, I will be
degrees out. Hallelujah I’m
strong.
a neekid hippy in Virginia.
5pm; Mediation
Jake is weeding the
with Hawina and
flowerbeds around pond,
HER. First breakneekid. A mother is playthrough, I agree to call
ing with her baby, neekid.
Her, her with a lower
As I look at the other neekid
case. Second break
hippies like me I think,
through, I agree to give
The author connects to his hippie
“Maybe it’s not so bad beher space as I’ve been
manhood by playing drums in a skirt sort of following her
ing single.”
12:15pm: Arrive at ZK for perfect garden around and sticking too close to her at social
grown organic lunch. See HER at table with new functions. Third break through, wow, Hawina is
friends, new…boy friends? No, couldn’t be, we amazing, I ask her to stay out of ZK for the first
made an Agreement. The last Mediation went so 15 minutes of lunch and dinner so I can just get
well….shit! The time period is up by about 3 my food and get out of there before I have to see
weeks now! Oh my GOD, she could be dating any or hear her and the stabbing searing pain of my
one of those guys. Those evil bad men, NO! heart makes it impossible to eat. Score! I negotiThey’re not bad, they’re my new friends. We ate a whole week of no ex-girlfriend in the food
grew so close in the sweat lodge last week. Must line. Fourth break through, we unload weeks of
get away, too confusing, too confusing.
breakup feelings to each other and come to a new
1pm: Manage to pull off entire rope making place of understanding and intimacy.
shift on machine called The State. Operating the
5:45pm; I feel great. I have been heard and
antiquated machine is totally involving and, at my feelings validated. She and I walk uphill from
Morningstar to ZK hand in hand. A shining
example of how two people can survive a breakup
at, hands down, the worst place in the world to
break up.
6:45pm; Playing Hacky sack after perfect
dinner of amazing organic like-no-where-else-inAmerica food. Sky pulls off tricky jester hack move.
Kate dropkicks it onto the roof of ZK. Dexter the
dog herds the group and grabs hack repeatedly, John
accidentally kicks Jonah in the head. Jonah is fine.
John needs group support to stop crying and continue playing, I invent a new move called ‘The
Matrix’. The hack circle swells to fifteen people.
Rapture! I’ve never been so happy.
7:30pm: Catch Coyote before he goes to bed.
After much good conversation and wisdom slinging, Coyote agrees to be my illegitimate father
which is not so far fetched. After hanging out with
Coyote I always feel a whole hell of a lot better.
8:30pm; I go to a “Cuddle Puddle” in Mary’s
room. She vehemently denies that this is a light sex
party. I am wearing nothing but a tiny silk skirt and
a g-string. The heat has dropped to only 98 degrees
with 90 percent humidity. The party starts slowly
with wine in a box and cheese on crackers. Someone
pulls out a chocolate bar. The party picks up. Soon
we are a mass of sweaty smelly bodies all over Mary’s
room. Someone is touching my ass….Frodo?
Whatever, I like him anyway. After all, I’m learning
to shed my notions of what is appropriate behavior
for a hetero man that were pounded into my head
by mainstream society. I’m a Twin Oaker now. I
shamelessly give long hugs to my male friends. I’m
not shy at the pond. And hey, if, after a long night
of Yuen-Ling and box wine I end up making out
with some magical German dude who is feeding me
mangos, then I’m okay with that.
9:45pm I drag my sweaty mango stuffed self
back toward Tupelo. The cuddle puddle was
getting a little too intense and I sensed some real
boundary-pushing coming on. I’m starting to get
the feeling that everyone has already been with
everyone else here. In fact, I’m beginning to
suspect that there are people here who are roman“Breakup” continued on page 8...
All Tied Up:
(The Leaves, Spring 1988)
Reflections From A Hammock Shop Manager
by Kathryn
When I joined Twin Oaks, I could not have
predicted that I would spend the first few years of
my membership as the primary go-to person for
problems great and small in the rope products
business. I pictured myself building straw bale
structures, learning to install solar panels, and
growing and eating nothing but home-grown
produce, dairy and eggs. But I also wanted to be
useful to the community, and, as it turned out,
Twin Oaks needed money, perhaps just as much
as it needed idealistic people looking to make a
better life.
So I jumped in, learning everything I could
about the rambling behemoth called Twin Oaks
Hammocks. There were almost twenty different
managers for the production and overhead areas,
not to mention assorted project leaders, honchos,
and unofficial advisors. Thousands of useful and
not–so–useful files stored in over a dozen filing
cabinets, forty or fifty cubbies, a few different
buildings, several email accounts, and hundreds
of network file folders. A communications system based largely on word–of–mouth and assorted scraps of paper tucked, taped, or pinned
here and there. A warehouse filled to bursting
with supplies and finished products. And (hooray!) a Rolodex full of happy customers. At first,
I wanted to clean up, organize, and streamline
everything—how else could I make sense of all
the chaos? I’m sure I made some hearty attempts,
and maybe even organized a thing or two in my
first months on the job. But entropy is a strong
force in community. Rather than bringing the
business into line, I let it bring me into line.
I feel enormous appreciation to the people
over the years who kept our rope products business running and thriving under Pier One. It
must have been an enormous job. In preparing to
write this article, I visited the archives to skim
some issues of the Leaves from the mid nineties
for a glimpse of what Twin Oaks Hammocks was
like ten years ago. What struck me most was how
busy the rope products business was, and how
central to life at Twin Oaks. Nearly every issue
contains tales of a major push event, unexpected
Pier One orders (or lack thereof), production
incentives, new equipment, new products, labor
crunches, joint business talks with East Wind, or
recruiting other communities to make hammocks.
In one push, Oakers got allowance bonuses if we
made our production goals, and managers had a
$12/day budget to buy treats for workers. Amazing. These days, if we’re falling a little behind in
hammock production, the problem can usually
be remedied by a couple of notes on the 3 x 5
board and a handful of people rearranging their
schedule a little bit. If someone wants to serve
goodies in the hammock shop, the answer is
either “No, we don’t need it,” or “Only if it
doesn’t cost money.”
The rope products business of yesteryear
was certainly more exciting, not to mention richer,
than today’s Twin Oaks Hammocks. The flip
side of excitement, however, is stress. Behind all
those push events and incentives were hours of
meetings, pages of proposals, millions of brain
cells, and probably at least a few repetitive strain
injuries. I can just imagine the seemingly interminable meetings in which the planners and rope
products managers hashed out compromises enabling us to meet the needs of both Pier One and
ourselves. I can imagine the person in charge of
providing goodies to the hammock shop overhearing someone grumble about the selection;
the motivated weaver breaking a sweat at one jig,
resenting the person at the next jig, who stops
after every row to get a drink; the person on the
phone with one of our suppliers, finding out that
our raw materials won’t arrive on time; the manager who withdraws because of the strain of
dealing with folks’s resentment about the decisions she helps make.
All in all, I think the rope products business
under Pier One was more fun for the general
population of Twin Oaks. High production
goals, a busy hammock shop, and lots of cultural
activities centering around the courtyard fostered
comraderie and community. And the managers
must have gotten a lot of satisfaction out of
keeping the business going, at a cost of exhaustion, burn out, and stress. For me, that trade–off
would not be worth it. I am glad that I happened
to walk in to Twin Oaks Hammocks just when
it began to shrink. I get the satisfaction of doing
a necessary job, of fulfilling my responsibility to
the community, without the level of pressure that
previous managers endured. And I get to witness
and help shape the changing of our economic
picture and our culture as we spend less
time in the hammock shop.
...”Pier I”continued from page 1
in the event of losing our biggest customer.
Beyond hammocks, the tofu business and
indexing had been encouraged to grow to
a level where they might take some of the
income burden off of hammocks. Unfortunately, while such efforts had made
strides, the hammocks business remained
the dominant income area by a wide margin.
The most obvious effect could be
seen in the year’s trade off game. At the end
of each year, the general management team
of the products business must project the
number of products we expect to sell.
From there, we calculate the anticipated
income. For 2004, we had projected the
products business would make about
$470,000. For 2005, without Pier 1 hammocks
to make, the projected income dropped to about
$260,000. This massive drop, over $200,000,
represented about 40% of the entire income of
the community.
Meanwhile, tofu began ramping up production, indexing was chomping at the bit, the hammocks business redoubled its marketing efforts
while striving to reduce expenses, and several
members began pursuing new business ideas. I
was encouraged and inspired by efforts on so
many fronts to work towards a more sustainable
economy. My personal hope is that if Pier 1
comes knocking again in the future we will have
the economic security to politely decline their
advances, to tell them to take that big, corporate
broom somewhere else.
A Pier I Post-Script
by Kathryn
The hx shop, circa 1979
...
Just days ago, Pier 1 contacted us again, curious if we would be interested
in supplying them with hammocks again. Thanks to our combined efforts in
tofu, indexing, retail and wholesale hammocks, outside work, investments, and
other miscellaneous sources of income, we can most definitely tell Pier 1 to take
a long walk off a short, um, pier—if we choose. Our net income for 2006 was
higher than 2003, our last year with Pier 1, and 2007 seems poised to be a similar
year. Our economy is not yet entirely stable—the loss of any one of our sources
of income would be a blow—but neither were we stable under Pier 1. At any
point, they could decide that they wanted fewer hammocks than we expected.
Additionally, because we have reduced the amount of capital invested in
expensive inventory, we have been able to increase our available cash. It is this
cash that is allowing us to upgrade our tofu hut, contribute to our savings, and
earn lots of interest.
We may decide that we want to supply Pier 1 with hammocks again. There
are certainly many benefits to the arrangement—a busy and social hammock
shop, and the opportunity to offer work to other communities and friends of
community, along with the extra money. But we are not desperate anymore. If
we resume a relationship with Pier 1, it will be a bonus for us, not a necessity.
Our financial picture, circa 1979
And if that O&I paper gets taken down,
You’ll still be the sweetest little co in town.
And if being apolitical brings dread,
Mama’s gonna post a paper about Fred.
(aside: there was a controversy
about him at the time)
And if that O&I turns hypocritical,
Mama’s gonna become a-political.
Hush little communard, don’t you cry,
Mama’s gonna write you an O&I.
Rock-a-bye communard Labour Sheets
You know who you are, people who cheat
Labour Manager, Planners, pass the buck,
We’re divided by those who do and don’t
Give a......
Rock-a-bye communard Hale and White
Outside Work, VE, who has the right?
Sheltered, unsheltered, what will it be?
Will the cmty cover my health costs for me?
Rock-a-bye communard Tofu Reserve
Did you get a shift that you don’t deserve?
Will you get on Aubee’s last nerve?
Or will the tofu business take a downward
swerve?
by Valerie
Commune
Lullabies
Ez for Planner
Topicless O&I Paper (1998?)
He’s got it all figured out.
...”News” continued from page 2
attention on what appears to be a larger rift than
usual between longer-term members and newer
members. Although conflict is inevitably stressful and painful, we seem to be responding with a
wide range of creative solutions, which is heartening. We recently had a large and productive
community sharing circle; we’re expanding the
new member integration program; and we’re resurrecting “Groups of Six” to encourage members
to talk regularly with others outside of their
ordinary social spheres.
Many Oakers are also getting involved in
“the Forum,” a community communication
method pioneered at ZEGG. Groups have also
been meeting steadily over the past year or so to
work on other personal growth and communication methods, including radical honesty, inquiry,
and nonviolent communication.
Some of us have been bonding with our cocommunards in a very different way, through
participation in our collective menstrual calender.
The calender, a gift from Eula X, hangs in a ZK
bathroom, and is utilized by many members,
visitors, and guests. At the top of it, one person
has written, “Get to know your cycle” and another has added (enthusiastically or sarcastically?),
“And every other bleeder’s – yeah!”
Holidays: We rang in the New Year with
our traditional bash up at Tupelo, enlivened by
the unusual absence of the New Year’s plague.
For Validation Day, a Dutch internet friend of
Cassie wrote a computer program specifically to
do the 4-point-game matchmaking. Due to the
computer’s matchmaking abilities, group dates
were an option for the first time. Another V-Day
highlight was a concert of love duets, organized
by Brenda. Apple and Daniel’s performance of
“Islands in the Stream” led many of us to spend
many hours trying to make any sense of its lyrics.
We had two May pole rituals this year - one
more pagan, and one more secular. We’ve been
having more “just for the heck of it” dances this
spring than we’ve had in quite a while, which has
been great. The teen girls have even deigned to
get out on the dance floor a few times. As we go
to press, Sky is gearing up for Twin Oaks’ third
rave, up at the conference site. And, of course,
we’re absorbed in preparations for the best anniversary party ever, which is probably raging as
you read this. If Twin Oaks is still standing
when the party’s over, we’ll let you
know how it went in the next issue.
Still Socialist After All These Years
by Pam
It does rankle though, to have my lifestyle still
The C’ville Weekly claimed we are the called an “experiment”. I’ve been living commucountry’s oldest commune. I doubt it’s true, but nally for 34 years, 15 of them at TO. For me, it’s
after 40 years here, Twin Oaks is obviously my lifestyle, it’s not an experiment. By now, I
successful at surviving. How well have we done as know it works. Why do we hang on to the “social
a social experiment?
experiment” label? I’m an unabashed socialist.
We are a group of nearly a hundred mem- Does the word “socialism” make people uncombers, jointly owning this community and our fortable? Calling my life an experiment is like
various “means of productelling me it’s “just a phase”
tion, distribution and exI’m going through!
change”. (That’s my
Actually, one of the
dictionary’s definition of sothings we’re not good at
cialism). We do it pretty well.
here is conducting experiWe own and run businesses
ments. I can’t think of one
together, we grow a lot of our
piece of policy that we’ve
own food, and we share a
successfully experimented
fleet of vehicles. We can each
with. We tried with the
choose from an amazing arnudity policy one summer,
ray of types of work, and each
experimenting with a looser
assemble our own portfolio
policy. We failed to follow
of jobs, with flexible hours to
through in evaluating the
suit our internal clocks. We
experiment and making a
care for our sick and elderly, Pam and Alexis-X bask in the conscious decision on what
and support our children.
success of their socialist lifestyle to do next. We drifted for
(1995)
A lot of the success of
much longer than originally
our work-sharing is due to our labor credit sys- stated, then got a decision from the planners that
tem. Local currency systems are nothing new to got an over-ride. While “experimenting” some
us. We’ve been valuing an hour of work with one people got attached to the temporary state and
labor credit for a long time. Another part of the wanted to abandon the agreement.
success is to base everything on a trust system –
What else hasn’t worked, or has changed for
expect the best of each other and we nearly always the worse? I think we’ve slid into a wider disparity
get it. No police, no heavy beaurocracy. A third of wealth than used to be common here. Quite a
factor is setting up our decision-making so that few people now have a weekly house-cleaning
people can choose to participate or not, but can’t job, or other VE opportunity. The rules for
hold up the process if they don’t participate.
spending VE are not always followed, so some
So, that’s the outline of what I think works. people live higher on the hog than others. I regret
that.
Our efforts to address our imbalanced
age demographics several years ago led to
publicity that deterred over-50’s, and outreach that very successfully recruited 20somethings. We have more of a revolving
door now – higher turnover. (I know turnover was very high in the formative years,
but later it stabilized somewhat). We offer
PALs– the right to leave and return within
a year without going through membership
application process again. It’s hard to see
friends leave. It’s hard training people and
then having to train more people. I hope we
move more towards encouraging long term
membership.
We’re not great at confronting people
who abuse our trust and openness. We mostly
shy away from confronting and dealing with
those problems. We could use more courage, and less hoping someone else will deal.
We’re all struggling humans, we’ll never be
perfect, but we do give it a good try!
We’re not great at writing articles for
deadlines, we tend to hope someone
else will do it!
Memories
by Bev Yaeger AKA Beverly Biko Oneida (‘86-‘90)
Being a visitor
I remember being a really excited visitor.
Everything was pretty fascinating, and labor sheets
were just too cool. I remember looking at the
sheet and being impressed with the variety of
work on my schedule. “Greenhouse”, “ZK”,
“Path Lights” and “Telephones” and the
ever-popular “Dump Run” are some of the
things I remember, besides all the meetings.
I showed up for “Greenhouse” pretty
well prepared. I figured this would be
a job involving some dirt. Since it was
December, I thought maybe we’d be
planting some greens or something. That
job turned out to be digging ditches to lay
the electric line. Well, not exactly what I
thought, but still some good honest labor,
and I got to meet an actual member. Next
was “ZK”. Very mysterious. This job
turned out to be digging also, I can’t
remember now what we were digging
ditches for. Drainage probably. Well,
I guessed somebody had to dig, it
might as well be me.
Ok, path lights next. Hmm. Maybe replacing light bulbs? No,… you guessed it… digging
ditches! This project as I recall was when the path
lights were just being installed between MT and
ZK, and we had to dig the ditch to lay the wires
in. So, on to telephones. I assumed this meant
ANSWERING phones, in the office. Finally a
chance to wear my hippie dress and impress
people with how nice I look all showered and
dressed up. I showed up at the office, but it turned
out I had the wrong idea about “Telephones”.
That job was really…..digging ditches!!!
Peeing in Community
When I lived in the Furnace room,
there was no bathroom in Oneida. The
garden in back always smelled like pee
from people peeing off the balcony. I was never a fan of pee jars,
too messy and liable to get spilled.
I remember having a regular pee
route. If it was the middle of the
night, I went in the grass between
Oneida and Harmony, being careful not to wreck the new peonies
that I think Reese or Tigerlilly had
bought from one of the kids doing a
sale for school. If it was too cold, or
daylight, I went to Harmony
bathroom. If someone was on
that toilet, I went to Llano. If
someone was there too, I went
to TaChai. I don’t remember ever having to wait
because all three toilets were busy. But maybe I
don’t remember because I just ended up in that
garden in the back of Oneida! I never had much
trouble sharing the bathroom for peeing, but I
always did prefer to poop in private.
Thanks for the memories!!
Turmoil and Transition:
Twin Oaks 1973 - 76
by David Ruth (‘73 - ‘77)
The following account of Twin Oaks’ 2nd
five years is excerpted and adapted from a 35page essay originally written in 1977-78. Due to
limited space, the second part of this essay will
appear in the Fall 2007 issue of the Leaves -ed.
In the spring of 1973 when I arrived, Twin
Oaks was in the midst of an expansion from 35
to 50 members. And there appeared to be a
division among the leaders of the community.
The most influential of the members who
had joined in the late 1960’s were idealists determined to create a self-sufficient, egalitarian, socialist community; one that would grow large,
spawn offshoots, and greatly influence the mainstream culture by becoming a model to be emulated by all those dissatisfied with capitalist consumer culture.
Then had come the early 1970’s, with turnover and expansion bringing in a different brand
of dreamers. These new members were people
excited about their first experiences in the burgeoning human potential movement – they sought
openness and honesty coupled with emotional
intensity – community as communion among
beings striving to be authentic and centered. Kat
Kinkade, thought by many at that time to be an
indispensable political leader of the community,
left Twin Oaks in the winter of 72/73 believing
that a “religious takeover” was occurring; the
socialists were losing out to the “touchie-feelies.”
Kat left to help found
another community,
East Wind, which
she hoped would remain more committed to her ideals.
With the coming that spring of
what came to be
known as “The Tuesday Meeting,”1 Kat’s
fears seemed to be realized as the community gathered to tell its
leaders that it would not sacrifice interpersonal
and intrapersonal goals for other ideological goals,
particularly for the further growth of the
community’s population. Thus began the “summer of the screamies,” as some called it, when
most members worked only 35 hours a week, and
when many felt they needed still more free time
to engage in work of personal value – holding
week-long sessions in primal screaming, and working through every event and relationship containing elements of interpersonal tension.
If there ever had been, as Kat alleged, a “takeover” occurring, it certainly faltered that autumn
with a large exodus of those who had been leading
voices in the forces for personal and interpersonal
growth. It was, however, the financial crisis of the
73/74 winter that diverted the attention of the
whole community from ideological issues to those
of survival.
Noticing that the bank balance was plummeting toward zero, and realizing that no income was
expected for months, the community dug in and
began working again. It also began its first serious
efforts at economic planning, setting the stage for
a more disciplined approach toward work and
governmental decision-making.
As the community grew in 1974 and 1975,
another wave, this time of Eastern spiritualism,
affected both old and new members. By then,
however, the community was large enough to discourage those who hoped to transform Twin Oaks
into a spiritual community, and diverse enough to
absorb many of the new spiritual ideas into what was
beginning to feel like a fairly stable socialist community, a community tolerant of a wide range of
religious beliefs.
During the same period in which the
community’s culture was
being affected by Eastern thought, its governmental infrastructure was
becoming more rational,
more tuned to the values
of planning and more expert in its techniques.
Land-Use Planning began in the winter of 74/
75, and with it came a feeling among many that
Twin Oaks had entered an era of stability. That
feeling, however, proved to be both illusory and
fleeting – for a new period of turmoil
was already in its nascent stage.
(to be continued...)
Saturn Returns: this one’s for the birds!
My tw
enty
-eight year cycle?
twenty
enty-eight
by Jake Kawatski (‘79-‘06)
I first came to TO as a young adult of 28 and gardening mostly for nine months, before returnam leaving again shortly after I turn 56. I am ing (via Sandhill sorghum harvest) to take on the
making plans to join George Wilson, my partner mantle of planner and gardening management.
of six years, in his adventures in Savannah, Geor- My most recent break (1994-1997) started with
gia, for the next phase of
a three month stint as head
our lives together. We’ll
cook for a boy scout camp
be renovating a big old
(I was glad when that was
house near the city center
over!) followed by two
with enough space for (at
wonderful winters in Poleast) three other adults
land teaching English. (I
(potentially kids too)…
returned to Twin Oaks in
so I am leaving Twin Oaks
the summer breaks and
but plan to continue my
worked in the garden.)
“alternative lifestyle” on a
After a serious heel
smaller scale. Prior to
injury (1992) turned arTwin Oaks, both George
thritic, I was forced to look
and I had been involved
for more sedentary work. I
with communal house- Jake, spamming it up for Halloween moved into indexing work
holds (he in Atlanta, I in Oregon and Florida), so and filled the vacancy in management for the last
between the two of us we will bring a lot of 8 years. I have always enjoyed the mix of mental
experience to this new urban enterprise.
and physical work possible here. (Still wishing
Just prior to Twin Oaks (late 1970s), I was there were more options in the “mental” category
a technical director and scene designer in a com- than there are currently, as most of us are overmunity theatre (Sarasota, Florida) and all through educated for the tedious “blue-collar” hammocks
my years here continued to be involved in many and tofu work.)
theatrical events; I was holiday manager for a
Over my twenty some years at Twin Oaks,
number of years as well. I have a degree in art, and I have also enjoyed the larger “Yanceyville”
shortly after we moved into our new kitchen-dining community, (the remnants of an old village that
complex (Zhankoye) in 1985, spent many happy borders Twin Oaks), and sang with their church
hours of my free time filling the empty wall space choir on and off for most of twenty years, espewith color. A half dozen of my paintings and fabric cially in the period when George Payne (their
art still hang there.
choir director) came to Twin Oaks weekly to
My life here has mostly been defined by the direct our choir here (c. 1985-1995). I will miss
work I’ve done: I was deeply involved in the that connection when I leave Virginia. It was
childcare program as metta (childcare worker) for challenging 4-part choral singing that only rarely
six years in the 80s, a child board member and happened in Twin Oaks “rock and roll music
teacher. I still enjoy being around children, and culture”. We performed original music by George
hope to make them part of my future life. Food and Kat Kinkade, and traveled with various
service has been another focus: I managed food musical programs, performing at churches and
processing (canning and preserving the harvest), events in Virginia.
cooked lunch or dinner at least once a week for
In 2000, came major changes in my life at
most of my life here, spent six years as milker (in the Oaks: my favorite brother Jay (aka Woody)
both old and new
came to live
barns), played cheez
here
just
wiz (cheese making
months after I
manager for two
had
met
years), and most seGeorge and
riously, was garden
enticed him to
manager for nine
live
here.
years in that same deGeorge is 14
cade. I was fortuyears my senate to have grown
nior, but still
up in a large family
has the energy
on a small farm in
and ambition
Kat, Jake, Breffni, Gordon, Peggy celebrate our 20th
rural Wisconsin, and so, from my earliest years, of a much younger person. I am mildly surprised
I’ve been comfortable with children, home grown that our years together have passed so quickly.
food, gardens, soil and manure. Cleaning up after His family has been wonderful (there are two
children ain’t so very different from cleaning up other gay couples in his immediate family) and I
after the cows!
look forward to being closer to all of them in
I haven’t been here continuously since 1979, whatever time remains of our “sunset” years
but have left twice to gain perspective and appre- together.
ciation of the rural village that is Twin Oaks. In
If I have any regrets, I wish I had allowed
1982-1984, I left with a small group of like-minded more time for art! But I imagine when I move to
folks with plans to start a life together in rural the city, there will be more inspiration in
Oregon. Our plans went awry, but I stayed in wet that area, as Savannah is home to a
coastal mountains of Oregon at Alpha Farm, major art school.
Eulogy for a Feline Friend
by Meredith
It is impossible to write about being a dairy
manager without writing about the creatures that
I care for and learn from. Here is the story of one
of them.
He was the cat of many names. Emily called
him Gris-gris. I called him Smokey. Most people
just referred to “the grey cat that hangs around the
barn”. This phenomenon was an apt description
of who he was, because he was a half-wild animal
and never knew himself by any name. This cat
belonged to no one, associated with no one, and
yet at the same time, he was part of Twin Oaks
every bit as much as you or I.
He appeared at the north end of the prop-
by Ezra
Every so often, I am asked “what are your
favorite things about Twin Oaks?” Sometimes it’s during a dinner conversation with
a guest, on a garden shift with a visitor, or
in a survey put out by a member or
visiting academic. On such occasions, I know what the “correct”
answer might be: our organic food,
our communal lifestyle, what a safe
and supportive place Twin Oaks
is to raise a small child. But the
truth is that—with the possible
exception of my son—nothing at
Twin Oaks gives me more pleasure than the birdfeeder hanging
outside of my window. I love the
woodpeckers–– downy, hairy and
redbellied–– and the nuthatches––
white–breasted and red–breasted. I love
my birdfeeder in the winter, when clouds of
purple finches battle for the feeding perches, and
flocks of dark–eyed juncos gather on the ground
below waiting for the seeds they spill. I love it in
the spring, when the Goldfinches exchange their
dull winter plumage for the bright yellow of the
breeding season, and the Rose–breasted Grosbeaks drop in during their spring migration. I
love it in the summer when the Indigo Buntings
arrive, and I can sit on the outside deck and watch
the birds flitting up for a late-afternoon snack,
oblivious to the noisy joyful humans just a few
feet away. And I love it in the fall when…well,
you get the picture.
I began fantasizing about a birdfeeder soon
after I moved to Twin Oaks. The day I moved
into my room in Beechside, I realized that I had
found the perfect location. A feeder hung there
would be close to the forest, and high in the air,
but would be directly outside of my window. The
small deck just outside of the second story door
was a perfect place to attach one end of a pulley,
allowing me to pull the feeder back and forth and
re-fill it with ease. My original plan involved
attaching the other end of the pulley to the
building itself, so that the feeder, a cheap plastic
tube–type affair, hung just inches outside of the
window. It seemed like an ideal arrangement, but
it didn’t take long for the squirrels to figure out
that there was a free lunch within easy reach.
Soon, they were scampering all up and down the
side of the building and across the outside of my
windowsill. Their loud scritch-scritch-scritching,
at all hours of day and night began to drive me
insane. Naively, I tried anchoring the other end
of the pulley on a long rod that held the feeder a
foot or so away from the window. This didn’t faze the
squirrels at all. They would
leap from the ledge onto the
feeder and casually—mockingly even— munch on my
expensive birdfeed (this was
during austerity, mind you!)
This was too much to
take, so I climbed onto a high
ladder and moved the other
end of the pulley to a nearby
tree. The feeder would hang
further from the window, but
farm cats should eat mice and
spare milk.
But my heart softened
with time, and eventually I
even stopped taking the cat
food away from him. I
thought he was an absolutely
beautiful cat; he had a deep
blue-gray coat with those
bright, fearful eyes that always
watched me, whenever I was
within sight. They would
watch even while he drank
milk, tongue lapping up the
white creamy liquid with eyes
peering upwards to keep tabs
on me. And if anyone came a
erty a couple years ago, near the hay barn where
the chickens were kept. He lived among the hens,
in apparent harmony; he didn’t try to eat them
and the ladies seemed to accept his presence. His
two yellow eyes would look out from beneath the
old wood storage area by the compost while
chickens ruffled their feathers, settling down in
the dust just a few feet away.
The first time I started paying attention to him
was as a little gray tail darting out the dairy barn
door. He had discovered that there was free food
if only you were willing to risk being seen by bovines
and their rubber-booted human caretakers. I didn’t
like the idea of feeding this cat. We already had
Tang, our sweet orange barn cat. Besides, I said, “Eulogy” cont. on page 8...
would hopefully be squirrel proof. It wasn’t. The
nasty little creatures simply ran along the
string and hung upside down, gorging themselves on the finest
black–oil sunflower seeds
that $60 a month could
buy. I tried hanging
round plastic disks beneath the line to shield
the feeder. I tried
sheathing the line itself with slippery
spinny plastic so that
the squirrels couldn’t
run along the line. I
tried pruning back
branches from the
nearby trees. I hung so
much armor on my feeder
that it looked like a hanging
junkyard! Each new technique
would confuse them for a week or
so, but they would soon regain the upper hand.
They gnawed holes in my birdfeeder for easier
access. They even began to eat the plastic bucket
that I kept the birdseed in. I would open the lid
to find a pile of empty seed–shells and squirrel
poop. Oh how I raged! I would run outside in a
frenzy and shake the rope to dislodge the vermin,
hoping to send them plunging to their deaths.
When, in my frustration, I shook the rope so hard
that I pulled the feeder clear off of the tree, I
realized that I needed a better plan.
Today, I am at peace with the squirrels.
With my superior human technology (a ‘squirrel–proof’ feeder with a spring–mounted steel
cage, and a galvanized bucket for the feed), I have
bested their gnawing teeth and scurrying claws.
They don’t even try anymore. I can sit in my bed
with my Sibley Field (sic) Guide to Eastern Birds
and my binoculars, and watch the charming antics
of my feathered friends. Almost every week this
year, I have experienced the sublime thrill of
identifying a new species just outside my window–– 20 different types so far (I saw an Eastern
Bluebird there for the first time last week!), and
I’m sure there are far more that I’ve seen but not
identified. I delight in re–filling the feeder nearly
every day, satisfying some deep nurturing instinct. This spring, I have been sharing my
obsession with my son Zadek, and it has been
quite delightful to see him standing on the bed,
pointing and saying “bird… big bird… yellow
bird,” and knowing that he is just as
excited about them as I am.
Twin Oaks Community is 40 years old!!!
The Leaves #104
138 Twin Oaks Rd.
Louisa, VA 23093
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
BELLMAWR NJ
PERMIT NO. 240
Hey Readers!
First off, a very big THANK YOU to folks like
you. Since our plea a year ago, we’ve recieved over
$550 in donations! Although the community has
started devoting a modest amount of money to our
budget, these donations have been instrumental in
allowing us to continue printing. And we still want
your support! $10 puts you on the mailing list for
3 issues and helps us provide The Leaves to our
extended family around the world. Checks can be
made out to Twin Oaks Community, and sent to
The Leaves of Twin Oaks.
We hope you enjoy this special
40th Anniversary issue!
The Editors, Sky and Kas
Twin Oaks Community
138 Twin Oaks Rd, Louisa VA 23093
twinoaks@ic.org www.twinoaks.org
...”Eulogy” continued from page 7 ...”Generation” continued from page 2
bit too close, away he would dart behind the old
milk cooler and out the far door.
And so he became a sort of permanent guest.
He lived at the chickens’ area and came in to the
dairy barn occasionally when he couldn’t find
enough mice to eat. Perhaps once a year, he’d
disappear for a couple weeks, then return. We
never did find out where he went or what he did.
So when he got sick a few weeks ago and it
was apparent that something needed to be done,
both for his sake and for the sake of those around
him, I volunteered to take him to the vet.
We stood out a bit, in the waiting room. All
the other clients had their pets in fancy cat carriers
and nice leashes. The humans were well-groomed
or at least wore clean clothes. I walked in wearing
mismatched work gloves and cow jeans, carrying
a wire cage with chicken feathers and fragrant
manure embedded in it. The cat had scratched up
his face while trying to escape. In addition to
these bloody scratches, mucus and discharge ran
down his face from his illness.
Nevertheless, the veterinarian and staff
treated us like any other owner and pet. It felt
strange to hear the cat referred to as “Smokey”
rather than “that gray cat.” For the first time in
his life, he was treated as much more than a stray.
The news was the worst. His runny nose
andwheezing were due just to a respiratory illness.
However, he also had Feline Immunodeficiency
Virus, or “Cat HIV”. Contagious, incurable, and
ultimately fatal.
The vet euthanized him while I waited in the
parking lot. Standing in the wind, I shed tears for
him, this cat who would leave the world as quietly
and cautiously as he entered. When I drove home,
his body in a cardboard box next to me, I experienced a sorrow so pure, like rain on the grass.
I buried him alone the next day, a shallow
grave in the yellow flowers behind the chicken
coop. It was how it should be; no procession, no
words or songs, not even a coffin. This cat would
want to end his life like the semi-feral cat he
always was. I did, however, plant at the grave a
wooden marker shaped like a hen to watch over
and keep company with him forever, just as the
hens were companions in this life.
I hope that I may live a life so wild and
beautiful as this cat’s. And, if I cannot, it
is enough that I have witnessed his.
...”Breakup” continued from page 3
tically involved with more then one person here.
I’ll have to ask Pax about this.
10:30pm; Neekid in the pond with several
nameless visitor girls and my Life Dance Guru,
Piankey. All these people are new to me yet I find
that I really love them all. Is this what it is to be
a flower child? The scene is too beautiful to
describe. We are up to our necks in cool water.
The frogs and crickets are blasting us with a wall
of natural psychedelic sound, the stars are all out
in hyper real brightness. Piankey is singing one of
his own songs in a high quavering voice. The
moonlight makes our skin glow. I think one of
the visitor girls, Rachel, no, Sarah, I can’t remember, is flirting with me. There are like twelve
women in this visitor group. It’s always this way.
I hear that Valerie controls the male to female ratio
of visitors. The community has found that
things work better with more women and less
men. Valerie is very wise and I trust her judgment.
12pm; I walk through the dark back to
Tupelo. All is quiet. I hear the sounds of lovers
coming from somewhere in Tupelo. I feel so
good I don’t mind. There’s no real privacy here
anyway. You just have to get used to it. I
rummage through the refrigerator and eat some
yogurt and left over popcorn. As I walk to my
room I nearly run into her…I mean HER. We
say “hi” and awkwardly keep walking. Wait a
minute…what’s she doing here? Is she sleeping
over with someone in Tupelo!!!!
NOOOOOOO!!!!!
12:30pm I am brutally reminded that I am
still living in Hell. All the emotional progress of
the day is flushed down the toilet and on it’s way
to the STP. The pain in my heart returns full
force and I wonder how long I will last until I snap
and become a little frayed and burnt wad of poly
pro that Shal will find on the hammock shop
floor and carefully put into the rope-recycling
bin. Why, God, why does her new boyfriend live
in MY building? I’m going to need another
mediation. I gotta get off this farm. But I have
no money and no vacation time saved up. Damn!
1am; as I drift off to sleep I struggle with the
conflict of both loving and hating this place. I
resolve to stay and become stronger. I know that
with the help of my friends and lots of wine in a
box that I will make it. And when my six-month
review comes up, there will not be one
piece of negative feedback.
cruiting was given a mandate to recruit more
young people. In 2001 the weather changed and
a deluge of young people hit the community.
Generally, its hard to tell how people find
out about the community. In this case, however,
there was a feedback loop: as more young people
joined, it became more attractive for other young
people. Friends of young members tend to visit
more often, and sometimes end up moving here
themselves. So what was the impact of this influx
of young people?
Despite the higher turnover rate brought by
a younger population, the influx of young new
members beginning in ’01 was so large that the
population continued to grow. In 2003 we started
approaching pop cap for the first time since the midnineties. While this meant more hands on deck to
get things done, it also meant more time training and
a lower overall skill level. It also meant a large
disparity between the skill levels of different members. Additionaly, it’s easier for older members to
create satisfying work scenes for themselves; many
of our young, new members are not accustomed to
working so much. Several new members in ’02 and
’03 had their provisional membership extended
because they didn’t have a positive labor balance or
barely managed to have a positive balance by their
full member poll.
In many ways, what we are facing is a problem
of how to better integrate new members. Because
the age range of new members tends to be low, its
also become something of a generation conflict.
Starting in 2003, with their peer group dwindling
and feeling alienated by the new dominat social
group, a number of fifty-something members started
putting out a call to repeal the age cap. A number
of long term, older members have left in the last few
years, several of whom seemed like lifers. Ione left
to join a Quaker retirement communtiy. Rollie and
Jake left to follow partners. Bob and Stella once
again headed for Central America. With the
average age plummeting, we didn’t have time to
prematurely repeal the age cap. The policy was
designed to turn off when our average age dropped
below 40 years, which it did in mid 2006.
A flood of middle-agers has yet to hit our
doorstep. We’re still getting large visitor groups
with lots of twenty-somethings that we’ve been
seeing for years now. However, despite a dramatic shift in the age of new members, we’ve hit
a new phase in our evolving age demographic in
the last couple years, with accompanying effects.
Most of the young new members of recent years
have moved on, but a number have stayed,
learned skills, taken positions of responsibility,
and become solid, respected, and influential. And
while our thirty-something crowd has remained
small, it is slowly growing as the twenty-somethings age. As they have aged and matured, both
personally and as members, the social gap has
begun to decrease.
Back in ‘00, before the deluge, I had a conversation about our age demographic with my father,
Dale, who was a member in the late seventies.
When he had lived at Twin Oaks most members
were in their twenties and thirties. Over twenty
years later, it seems they grew up and a new
batch has arrived. I wonder, are we
starting to see a long-term cycle?